Commentary
Since the question was introduced in 2000, the percentage of both adults and households reporting recycling various items has increased. The percentage of adults reporting recycling glass, plastic, metal cans or newspaper/magazine/paper/cardboard increased from just over 43 per cent in the first quarter of 2000 to under 49 per cent in the first quarter of 2003. The percentage of households reporting recycling one or more of these items increased from just over 49 per cent in the second quarter of 2003 to just over 89 per cent in the third quarter of 2010.
The greater increase in the percentage of households recycling paper, plastic and cans compared with glass is a result of the introduction of kerbside collection of materials.
The apparent quarter-to-quarter fluctuations in the figures may well be the result of sampling variability. Quarter-to-quarter changes should therefore be interpreted with caution.
Data
Percentage of households reporting recycling different items
| Year | Qtr | | Glass | Plastic | Metal cans | Paper etc | One or more of these items |
| | | | | | | |
| 2000 | Qtr 1 | | 29.3 | 4.8 | 8.3 | 28.9 | 43.1 |
| Qtr 2 | | 26.8 | 5.6 | 8.9 | 28.4 | 41.6 |
| Qtr 3 | | 29.6 | 5.9 | 9.2 | 30.3 | 44.1 |
| Qtr 4 | | 29.6 | 6.1 | 8.7 | 30.9 | 43.8 |
| 2001 | Qtr 1 | | 27.5 | 5.0 | 8.2 | 28.5 | 41.0 |
| Qtr 2 | | 26.6 | 5.7 | 7.4 | 30.3 | 41.7 |
| Qtr 3 | | 27.6 | 6.1 | 8.8 | 29.4 | 43.0 |
| Qtr 4 | | 28.3 | 5.7 | 8.9 | 30.3 | 42.6 |
| 2002 | Qtr 1 | | 29.3 | 6.1 | 9.8 | 31.0 | 43.7 |
| Qtr 2 | | 28.6 | 6.5 | 8.9 | 31.1 | 43.1 |
| Qtr 3 | | 31.8 | 8.0 | 10.8 | 34.3 | 45.2 |
| Qtr 4 | | 31.2 | 9.3 | 11.6 | 33.6 | 46.0 |
| 2003 | Qtr 1 | | 33.3 | 11.4 | 13.5 | 36.8 | 48.4 |
| Qtr 2 | | 32.2 | 12.1 | 13.3 | 39.6 | 49.4 |
| Qtr 3 | | 35.7 | 10.9 | 13.0 | 43.0 | 54.2 |
| Qtr 4 | | 34.3 | 14.3 | 15.5 | 50.6 | 60.5 |
| 2004 | Qtr 1 | | 35.3 | 13.3 | 14.7 | 47.8 | 57.7 |
| Qtr 2 | | 38.7 | 18.3 | 18.7 | 52.2 | 60.6 |
| Qtr 3 | | 39.7 | 22.2 | 22.4 | 54.1 | 61.1 |
| Qtr 4 | | 42.4 | 22.7 | 24.1 | 57.3 | 65.3 |
| 2005 | Qtr 1 | | 45.4 | 29.4 | 29.1 | 64.0 | 69.8 |
| Qtr 2 | | 47.9 | 32.5 | 33.2 | 65.6 | 72.1 |
| Qtr 3 | | 51.3 | 38.9 | 40.0 | 72.1 | 77.3 |
| Qtr 4 | | 54.7 | 39.9 | 42.4 | 72.7 | 78.4 |
| 2006 | Qtr 1 | | 55.5 | 44.5 | 46.1 | 74.7 | 78.9 |
| Qtr 2 | | 54.2 | 43.3 | 44.0 | 75.0 | 79.2 |
| Qtr 3 | | 57.5 | 47.0 | 48.2 | 76.3 | 80.2 |
| Qtr 4 | | 60.9 | 50.8 | 52.9 | 77.8 | 81.7 |
| 2007 | Qtr 1 | | 65.3 | 56.4 | 57.4 | 79.5 | 82.9 |
| Qtr 2 | | 67.2 | 56.1 | 58.2 | 81.6 | 84.8 |
| Qtr 3 | | 67.0 | 60.0 | 59.2 | 82.1 | 84.7 |
| Qtr 4 | | 69.0 | 59.0 | 61.0 | 81.5 | 84.9 |
| 2008 | Qtr 1 | | 68.9 | 62.0 | 61.5 | 80.7 | 85.0 |
| Qtr 2 | | 71.6 | 65.4 | 64.2 | 85.4 | 88.7 |
| Qtr 3 | | 71.5 | 66.5 | 67.5 | 83.3 | 86.9 |
| Qtr 4 | | 70.0 | 67.5 | 67.1 | 83.0 | 86.3 |
| 2009 | Qtr 1 | | 72.7 | 69.4 | 68.6 | 84.7 | 88.3 |
| Qtr 2 | | 73.4 | 71.1 | 68.4 | 83.8 | 87.3 |
| Qtr 3 | | 72.9 | 71.7 | 70.2 | 83.6 | 87.1 |
| Qtr 4 | | 74.0 | 72.5 | 70.5 | 83.6 | 87.6 |
| 2010 | Qtr 1 | | 75.1 | 72.6 | 71.3 | 84.8 | 88.6 |
| Qtr 2 | | 75.6 | 73.4 | 71.6 | 84.3 | 88.1 |
| Qtr 3 | | 77.0 | 75.8 | 74.3 | 85.3 | 89.4
|
Percent of households
Notes
This question was first introduced in 2000.
Paper etc = Newspaper, magazines, paper and cardboard
1 Up to Q1 2003 the question was asked of adults rather than households.
2 In previous years the questions asked whether or not the adult/household recycled each of the four items (yes or no). In 2007 this was changed to how much (all/most/some/none) was recycled. There was also a change to the items 'glass bottles' became 'glass bottles and jars' and 'plastic' became 'plastic bottles'.
3 In 2010, the question was revised to include home composting of paper etc in addition to recycling.
From June 2007, this question was reduced to three-quarters of the sample